Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Well, I took a quick survey of the status this morning of the Castro rumor. The Jawa Report has a sources that says he has indeed 'shuffled off the mortal coul and joined the choir invisible.' They reference Babalu Blog, which links to Venezuela's El Nacional, where Hugo Chavez tells us that Fidel is 'stronger than ever.'

And remember my speculation that Chavez might have troops on hand to prevent democracy from taking root in Cuba? In the same article, Chavez signals Venezuela's commitment to the Cuban 'revolution,' and its commitment to countering the US Empire:

Here my translation will suffer a little; perhaps a reader more familiar with Venezuelan Spanish can improve upon my rendition. But Chavez's statement goes something like this:

"Now is when Venezuela will support the Cuban revolution. No more powerful Empire will discourage us. Or better, the threats of imperialism, of this obscene, immoral empire, that lacks the morals to speak to the world - is a murderous, genocidal empire that does not recognize human rights. No empire will discourage us from our strategic alliance with revolutionary Cuba."

The Venezuelan leader signaled that the US government not only threatens Cuba and announces the imminent passing of Fidel, "but also threatens us, because its statement says that they will discourage any third country that wants to support the Cuban revolution."